So Naomi ¹  said, “Look, your sister-in-law is returning to her people and to her god. ²  Follow your sister-in-law back home!”

But they said to her, “No! ¹  We will ²  return with you to your people.”

So Naomi returned, accompanied by her Moabite daughter-in-law Ruth, who came back with her from the region of Moab. ¹  (Now they ²  arrived in Bethlehem at the beginning of the barley harvest.) ³ 

Then Boaz said to the guardian, ¹  “Naomi, who has returned from the region of Moab, is selling ²  the portion of land that belongs to our relative Elimelech.

So she decided to return home from the region of Moab, accompanied by her daughters-in-law, ¹  because while she was living in Moab ²  she had heard that the Lord had shown concern ³  for his people, reversing the famine by providing abundant crops. ⁴ 

Now as she and her two daughters-in-law began to leave the place where she had been living to return to the land of Judah, ¹ 

Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, “Listen to me! Each of you should return to your mother’s home! ¹  May the Lord show ²  you ³  the same kind of devotion that you have shown to your deceased husbands ⁴  and to me! ⁵ 

But Naomi replied, “Go back home, my daughters! There is no reason for you to return to Judah with me! ¹  I am no longer capable of giving birth to sons who might become your husbands! ² 

I left here full, ¹  but the Lord has caused me to return empty-handed. ²  Why do you call me ‘Naomi,’ seeing that ³  the Lord has opposed me, ⁴  and the Sovereign One ⁵  has caused me to suffer?” ⁶ 

The servant in charge of the harvesters replied, “She’s the young Moabite woman who came back with Naomi from the region of Moab.

He will encourage you and provide for you when you are old, ¹  for your daughter-in-law, who loves you, has given him birth. She ²  is better to you than seven sons!”

Go back home, my daughters! For I am too old to get married again. ¹  Even if I thought that there was hope that I could get married tonight and conceive sons, ² 

But Ruth replied, “Stop urging me to abandon you! ¹  For wherever you go, I will go. Wherever you live, I will live. Your people will become my people, and your God will become my God.